For Heather, happiness means following her values, and since church activity reminds her of those, she hopes to have constructive conversations in her future wards.

When Heather found out, at 11 or 12, what her thoughts and attractions were called and how the church feels about them, she believed she was evil, corrupt, and somehow sick. Depression set in as she thought God hated her as much as she hated herself, and she struggled with how to create a life that was happy. When loved ones said, “That’s disgusting,” about a same-sex couple on TV, what she heard was, “Heather, you’re disgusting.” But her relationship with her heavenly father has developed peace in her life, and she looks forward to a healthy relationship with a woman. Her future relationships may be hard on family who oppose same-sex relationships, but she reminds herself to expect no less than the decade she took to come to terms with it, and she has felt no less than genuine love from them.

by Jay Jacobsen

Austin

Beautiful. What courage and confidence.

FMW (finding myway)

“How are we going to make this better as opposed to we’re stuck…?” What a great attitude! I think that’s the point many of us get to. I’m there personally and it feels so good. I love how Heather describes being in a relationship in the future because it’s something she needs “as a healthy individual” because she loves herself. Great story!!

Kim

I could very much relate to Heather. Loved it!

Will

I haven’t had interpretations like “Will, you’re disgusting” because I wasn’t doing the things that people do on tv. So it wasn’t disgusting who I was, but what I could be acting on.